Pinball Logistics

Sometimes everything just works out!

I have wanted a Devil Riders for a long time, but after GSPF '19 in May, I was really on the hunt. Boom there's one for sale in Arizona! D'oh! too far, but I'm sorely tempted. I stalled and stalled, and figured it would sell and the decision would be made for me... but a couple weeks later... it's still for sale! Kris kindly says he will take PayPal, so I have the long range payment angled covered, but I don't know from shipping, and driving from SLO to Phoenix wasn't going to work for me, and he wants it gone soon. In desperation I put out a call here, and like an angel from Heaven, MrArt2u PMs me and says he and his lovely wife Amanda would put together a road trip from LA to get it to SoCal for me! OMG, stoked.

So we go back and forth about arrangements. I was in Malibu this last weekend and we arranged to meet at Art's pinplace in Pasadena on Sunday. Meanwhile, Art and Amanda take a roadtrip in the heat with their dogs to Phoenix, and somehow cram the thing into the car! THANK YOU!

Also meanwhile, I negotiate a trade with mikeincali for a video blackjack machine from the old El Rancho. So I hafta bring do Ron-Dee-Voo to Mike for the trade. So we arrange to meet at Art's on Sunday too. Yay.

Then I get to thinking that my since I will only have 1 pinball at a time in the vehicle, and since Art had to take the head off Devil Riders to fit it in their car... I make some measurements and think about how I fit Speakeasy into my car for CAX one year, with room for my boy and his buddy... and go for it in my 2000 Suzuki wagon.

So... On Sunday we all meet at Art's groovy place, and I unload Ron-Dee-Voo, and Mike loads her up. We slide the Devil Riders head down to the short end of the cabinet, and 4 of us manage to slide the sucker in. I had been thinking that we could put the blackjack machine on its side next to the pinball, but it's too wide. We try the front passenger seat. Dreaming! So I say,

"Let's tie it on the roof." Art looks at me like I am insane, but Mike and I measure the roof racks and it will technically fit. So we take Art's pinball lift and jack the machine up as high as we can, and then we muscle it onto the roof rack. Three or four tiedowns later, and I'm ready to rumble.

Art thinks I am going to wreak havoc on the 101 when the roof racks come loose and launch a 200 pound blackjack machine into the car behind me. Mike's wife says some Hail Marys as I drive off, and everyone keeps saying to text when I get home. But as I told Mike, I've been strapping shtuff to the top of my car since I was a teenager... this was easy money.

As soon as I hit 15mph the straps started rumbling like a Harley. My wagon has a manual tranny, and luckily I have a tach; otherwise I wouldn't have been able to tell when to shift gears. Again, I was used to that from my youth. Then about 2 hours into the drive, the strap hum changed pitch! I pulled over and checked, but everything was still tight. This happened a couple of times before I realized I could see it in my rear view mirror, and I kept rolling.

Truckers and people in tall vehicles gave me some great looks because they could see what it was. I had a neighbor help me extricate both machines when I got home. There were a few bugs on the side and one wire on the coin switch had shaken loose, but it works fine!

Devil Riders was also working beautifully... until I started messing (That's another thread...), but I am still stoked at how everything worked out. Some of the pinheads around here are really great!

Thanks to MrArt2u (and Amanda) and mikeincali for everything, and kbliznick for your patience.

The Pics: The first one is Devil Riders in Amanda's car. #2 is Devil Riders waiting for me at Art's. #3 is how I rolled with both machines. (38mpg baby!). #4 is the Video blackjack machine in action at home. #5 is DR!